The Director of NIH is encouraged to continue and expand, through the Pain Consortium, an aggressive program of basic and clinical research on the causes of and potential treatments for pain.

Not less than annually, the Pain Consortium, in consultation with the Division of Program Coordination, Planning, and Strategic Initiatives, shall develop and submit to the Director of NIH recommendations on appropriate pain research initiatives that could be undertaken with funds reserved under section 282a(c)(1) of this title for the Common Fund or otherwise available for such initiatives.

In this subsection, the term “Pain Consortium” means the Pain Consortium of the National Institutes of Health or a similar trans-National Institutes of Health coordinating entity designated by the Secretary for purposes of this subsection.